to get access to his backpack, to the phone hidden inside it.
Talia shoots me a warning look. “Hang up,” she whispers.
Before I can, Jamison starts speaking again. “Did you think it was a trap?” he says. Confidence bleeds from the words. “The reanimating of whatever corpse you traipsed off to not so many hours ago. Were you cautious? Is that what took you so long?” Everything inside me stills. I don’t answer.
He was here. He does know where we are.
“Not many people would open the door to a stranger at three a.m. Please thank Talia’s parents again for their hospitality.” I can almost hear his smile. “They have such a lovely home.”
The call disconnects.
Ploy
“Please not them.” The words run together until the space between them disappears. “Pleasenotthempleasenotthem,” Talia whispers over and over, her hand on the back door of her parents’ house. Twice, she’s touched her fingers to the knob and pulled away as if it were heated by an unseen fire.
I know what to expect inside. Allie told us what Jamison said on the phone. I move slowly, nudge Talia’s shoulder, sway her backwards. “I’ll go in first,” I say.
I glance at Allie grimly as I twist the knob and open the door. It leads to a mudroom. We start through it toward the kitchen.
“Talia?” a voice calls and I freeze. The man it belongs to doesn’t turn, his attention on the pancakes he’s flipping in the skillet on the stove.
“Dad?” Talia whimpers in disbelief. She rushes past us. Before her father has a chance to turn, she throws her arms around him. It takes me a second to hide my surprise and replace it with relief for Allie’s benefit. Jamison left Talia’s parents alive.
“What’s gotten into you?” Talia’s father asks, a note of amusement in his voice until he hugs her back and catches sight of Allie and I standing self-consciously near the door. “Oh. We have guests?” He tips Talia from his shoulder. “Sweetheart?” he says with sudden concern. “What’s wrong?”
Her chin quivers. “Where’s Mom?”
“Joy!” he calls toward the entrance to the living room. He takes in his daughter’s tears and then his eyes shoot to us as if for an answer. I offer a short wave. Talia’s dad glances at Allie. “What’s happened?”
Allie licks her lips. “Um...” Talia’s eye barely twitches in a wink and Allie brightens. “Nothing! Just stopping by!” The change is effortless and instant as Allie slips into the new role. It’s almost unnerving.
Before it can grow awkward, Talia’s mom breezes into the room. “Howard! You’re burning them!” she says, taking the skillet with the slightly charred pancakes off the stove before she notices us. “Oh!” She sets the skillet down. She looks me over as if trying to place my face, slight recognition in her eyes. I’m pretty sure she’s dropped quarters in my cup a couple times up near the library. Luckily, she doesn’t make the connection. “You guys are up early!”
Without a word, Talia reaches to draw her mom, too, into the embrace. Finally, she lets them go. “Who was here last night?” she says in a shaking voice.
“Did that wake you?” her dad asks. “We thought we heard you leave.” His forehead wrinkles. “It was all rather odd, actually.”
“A boy had a bit of car trouble,” her mother says. She’s smiling, utterly unaware of how close to death she and her husband were last night.
Why didn’t he kill them? I want to believe it’s because I really did get through to him, but Talia is adopted. He must have known her parents didn’t carry the bloodline. Jesus, we’ve only been here a few hours. Unless Talia was one of the names and addresses he said he snagged from Allie’s aunt’s, he’s working quick.
Or he’s following me. Has he known where we were the whole time?
His phone call to Allie had me panicked, though I think I did a good job of hiding it. Did he just want us both aware he was close? To remind me he’s watching? I swallow hard, wondering what he’s seen between Allie and me. Not that I wasn’t expected to use any means necessary. I’m worried he saw through it. Saw the way I look at her.
If it comes down to the two of them, I’m not sure who I’d put my money on. I’m not sure who I’d side with. I have feelings for her I can’t deny. But Jamison’s done more for me than anyone else in my life. I owe him.
“A